Vickie is a rape victim. At age 62, she’s lived most of her life with the scar of sexual assault on her psyche. Like many victims, that scar often manifested itself as anger, and showed up to ruin relationships.

Rape “is not funny. It’s not funny in the least,” she says, reacting to the attempt at juvenile humor from the members of the so-called “Charlie Rape Gang” at Lakeside Middle School.

If what appears to be a steadily rising tide of grumbling is any indication, the upcoming TSPLOST referendum in July seems destined to go down in flames.

I’ve been somewhat on the fence about the regional Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, largely because there hasn’t yet been a reason to make a personal decision. It doesn’t come up for a vote until July 31, after all.

Unless you’re one of those folks who are so cynical that the hardness of your heart can be measured only on the Rockwell scale, you must see the Aaron Schmidt murder conviction last week as unspeakably sad.

I just can’t fathom how tough it would be for one family to lose a 14-year-old daughter, and for another to lose a 15-year-old son.

Schmidt’s murder conviction means, for all practical purposes, his life is as over as that of his victim, Alana Calahan. He’ll likely spend the rest of his life in prison.

If the citizens of this county, this state, this nation could follow that simple rule, we’d all be better off.Most of us would agree that we shouldn’t expect the federal government to give you money if you don’t work for it. But just as importantly, people should stop demanding that their government take care of things that should be their responsibility.

This conversation started when someone on Facebook worried about apartments being built near Riverwood Plantation.

My brethren downtown might feel that the wheels of justice have turned appropriately in the investigation of a bunch of Hancock County football players beating a Warren County football coach into surgery, but I’m not buying it.

When the Hancock County sheriff talks to the media to defend his county’s players, and then you find that the forewoman of the grand jury is an employee of the school system, something smells an awful lot like home cooking.

This past week, Damon Cline announced that he planned to run against Allen in the District 2 County Commission race because he’s still worked up about the Magnolia Trace project. A couple of days later, Allen let Cline know that because of redistricting, Cline won’t be in his district any more.

ADDENDUM: We've now learned that under the new districts drawn for Columbia County Commission and School Board, Damon Cline's residence is in District 1 - not District 2. See the linked story for details.

Theoretically, we could say the first drop of the other shoe for opposition to Magnolia Trace came this weekend when Damon Cline, who works at Georgia Health Sciences University, tossed his hat in the ring for the Columbia County Commission District 2 seat.

While all eyes seem to be on the bare-knuckles cage match that the national media keeps insisting should be called the “Republican presidential primary,” there’s actually a Republican primary battle for a national office taking place around here, too.

You might have heard about it: It’s for the 12th District U.S. Congressional seat. Three men and one woman (so far) are seeking the Republican nomination for the opportunity to run against Democratic U.S. Rep. John Barrow.